NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: physical sciences, shoreline, permafrost thaw, thaw slump, sediment core

Objective(s): To track the history of shoreline permafrost thaw slump activity over the last several thousand years, and associated lake ecological responses to thaw slumping, in order to provide a long-term context for present-day observations.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.4727. The research team will use lake sediment cores to track the history of shoreline permafrost thaw slump activity over the last several thousand years, and associated lake ecological responses to thaw slumping, in order to provide a long-term context for present-day observations. The team will select three pairs of lakes (with one lake that has a shoreline thaw slump, and a neighboring unimpacted reference lake) along a climatic gradient from the Noel Lake region to the Tuktoyaktuk coast. The team will also select 1-3 lakes with "ancient" slumps on them - meaning that they show evidence of past thaw slump activity, but show no residual impacts of slumping on water quality parameters. Lake sediment cores spanning the Holocene (up to the last ~10,000 years) will be collected from the centre of the lakes using a piston core and established field methodologies. The lakes will be cored in April-early May, when they are still ice covered, and a small hole will be drilled through the ice to deploy the sediment core. The coring process takes ~1 hour per lake, and has no impact on the lake ecosystem. Once the team have confirmed the field dates they will contact the Aurora College and the East Three School to offer to give presentations or workshops. The Principal Investigator will also contact the Hunters and Trappers Committees and Community Corporations directly to notify them of the research plans, provide updates on the past work in the area, and offer to meet with them should there be interest. The research team will provide posters, reports, and short outreach videos outlining the research findings in plain, accessible language as they become available. Copies of all publications and theses will be given to Aurora Research Institute. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from March 24, 2021 to December 31, 2021.